More than 40 experts and community stakeholders will join the South River Forest and Public Safety Training Center Community Task Force that Mayor Andre Dickens is establishing to provide input on the Training Center and surrounding green space.
Community involvement has been integral to the development of the Training Center over the last year, primarily through the existingCommunity Stakeholder Advisory Committee. Feedback from that group has led to several improvements to the Training Center plan, including adding a 100-foot tree buffer along the residential side of the facility, adding spaces available for community use, building sidewalks, and implementing extensive measures to mitigate sound from training activities at the site.
The new Community Task Force will add more voices and broaden the scope of community input to include the surrounding green space and the nearby site of the former Atlanta Prison Farm, as well as public safety training curriculum.
“We have a once-in-a-generation opportunity to invest in our vital public safety needs and establish the largest park the City of Atlanta would own,” Mayor Dickens said. “I want the community at the head of the table, sharing their expertise and aspirations. I look forward to receiving recommendations which will continue to inform the training center and the parks, trails and community spaces our communities can be proud of.”
The Community Task Force is comprised of four subgroups:
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Parks and green space
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Visioning, memorializing, and repurposing the former Atlanta Prison Farm site
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Sustainability and resilience
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Police, fire and E-911 training curriculum
The Community Task Force will begin meeting in April and provide an initial set of recommendations by July.
Initial members of the Community Task Force are as follows:
Attorney Gerald Griggs, Georgia NAACP
Bishop Kevin Strickland, Clergy
Blake Fortune, Community Member
Bonita Johnson, U.S. Environmental Protection…
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